Tadeusz Pacholczyk

Reverend Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. (born 1964) is an American Roman Catholic priest, neuroscientist and writer.

Father Pacholczyk grew up in Tucson, Arizona to a Polish family. His father Andrzej Pacholczyk was a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. He earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale University and did post-doctoral research at Harvard University.

In 1999, he was ordained a priest, after studying in Rome. He quickly became the leading church spokesman on what he calls beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues. He's been an outspoken proponent of the Catholic Church's positions in opposition to human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. (See Declaration on the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells.) In December 2001, he testified before the Massachusetts Senate that "embryonic human life is inviolable and deserving of unconditional respect."

Pacholczyk is currently a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts and he writes a monthly column called, "Making Sense Out of Bioethics," which is published nationally in many local diocesan newspapers. He also serves as the director of education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, whose long-time director, John Haas (retired 2019), is an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Opposing Physician-Assisted Suicide

On October 7, 2012, Rev. Pacholczyk wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal titled "Please Step Back From the Assisted-Suicide Ledge" in which he notes, "If physician-assisted suicide really represents a good choice, we need to ask: Why should only physicians be able to participate?" He follows the rhetorical question to its conclusion by noting, "Why should doctors have a monopoly on undermining public trust? Police and lifeguards could help out too."

Assessing Sexual Orientation Change Efforts

On October 22, 2018 Rev. Pacholczyk wrote a piece in the Catholic Herald titled "Sexual Orientation: Hope for restoration and healing with SOCE" (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts). He describes the measured conclusion of a review by Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. of six studies published between 2000 and 2018 which concludes that SOCE “can be effective for some clients in bringing about significant change in some components of sexual orientation,” and that “few harms were reported.”

Calling for Ethical Oversight of Human Scientific Research

On January 10, 2020, Rev. Pacholczyk wrote a piece in The Boston Pilot titled "The Foxes and the Henhouse" He describes the production of two gene-edited human babies in China, and the apparent inability of the scientific establishment to provide adequate ethical regulation and oversight of research involving embryonic humans.

External links

• National Catholic Bioethics Center
• Tadeusz Pacholczyk at IMDb